


Cars

by Lucespes



Category: Free!
Genre: Asahi feels sad, Asahi is oblivious to said crush and just takes Kisumi's help as kindness, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kisumi wants to help his crush, Light Angst, M/M, Mental Instability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 16:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15295470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucespes/pseuds/Lucespes
Summary: Asahi is too into his own head, and he can't figure out how to come back to reality. Luckily, a pining Kisumi appears and helps him through his dark day through a fun child's game.Third prompt of my curiouscat asakisu prompts!





	Cars

**Author's Note:**

> bonus points if you can guess where asahi's car game comes from ;)

Growing up, Asahi had always played a game with his sister. It was a simple game, easy enough that it was meant for children, but Asahi still found himself playing on his commutes to university. All that the players (or single player in Asahi’s case) had to do was pick a color and see who could count the most amount of cars in that color. Asahi had modified the game so that he would count one color on his way to university and one color on his way back, and whichever color he saw more of was crowned the champion and moved on to the next day’s competition. It wasn’t a very exciting game, but it helped Asahi pass time on his solitary commute to university, and that was all that mattered to him.

“Asahi, what are you looking at?”

Haruka’s voice pierced through Asahi’s daydream like a javelin, and he turned in his seat to face the blue-eyed swimmer. “Are you even paying attention to the lecture?” he whispered.

Admittedly, Asahi had been so focused on the cars in the parking lot just out the window that he hadn’t even put his pencil to the paper, let alone listen to what their instructor was droning on about. He mutely shook his head in response to Haruka’s question, smiling apologetically as he gave him an exasperated look. “Sorry?”

Haruka turned back to face the front of the class in lieu of an answer, but Asahi noticed that he was making his notes a little more legible, as if to show that he planned on letting Asahi copy them. The redhead smiled to himself, looking back out the window. Even though Haruka had a mostly stone-cold exterior, he definitely had his moments where Asahi knew that he secretly cared deeply for his friends.

He watched the cars, deep in thought, for the rest of the period, and the only reason he didn’t daydream through the next was because Haruka nudged him and motioned for them to leave.

As they walked through the halls, Asahi could tell that Haruka was curious as to why Asahi’s head was so stuck in the clouds, but he knew that the raven-haired boy wasn’t going to outright ask him any time soon. He grinned at him, knocking their shoulders together. “Sorry that I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t get much sleep last night, so my focus isn’t really all there today.” The lie came to him much easier than he would have liked to admit, but truth be told, he wasn’t quite sure why he was feeling so unfocused, and he most certainly didn’t want to make Haruka worry.

His lie seemed to work, though Haruka did look slightly suspicious, but Asahi was thankful when his fellow swimmer didn’t question him any further. He was about to say something to change the subject when a sudden force barreled into him from behind, and he stumbled as he tried not to fall face-first onto the floor.

“Yo, Haru! Asahi! How was class?”

Asahi shot a disgruntled look over his shoulder at Kisumi, who had an arm wrapped around both Asahi and Haruka and was smiling blissfully as if he had no idea that he had almost just bowled over both of his friends.

“It was fine,” Haruka deadpanned with a shrug, knocking Kisumi’s arm off of him. “Just class.”

Kisumi nodded and sighed dramatically. “My class was no better. Thank God it’s the weekend now,” he cheered, and Asahi felt his lips curl upwards. The weekend. An opportunity to reset and refresh. And rest and relax. A lot of r’s. “Are you two doing anything tonight? We should go to dinner!”

Haruka immediately shook his head, walking down the stairs that led out of the university. “I can’t. Makoto and I are going to a movie,” he said, turning back to look up at Kisumi and Asahi, who were a couple steps behind him.

Kisumi visibly deflated, hanging off of Asahi even more. “Aw!” he whined, making a face. “Well, Asahi, how about you? What do you say to dinner?”

If he wanted to be honest, he would have told Kisumi that he wasn’t feeling right and that it was probably best for him to head back to his apartment for the night. Instead, he grinned valiantly at his friend, holding out his fist for Kisumi to bump. “Hell yeah, man. Where do you want to go?”

“I’ll see you on Monday,” Haruka interjected, giving them a slight wave and heading off to what Asahi assumed was the nearest train station.

He continued to walk with Kisumi, detaching himself so that they could actually talk at a reasonable distance. “I hear there’s a good restaurant down the street,” Kisumi said, his voice light and conversational. Asahi felt as though he was being read like an open book, which made him feel exposed. He didn’t like the feeling.

“That’s fine,” he said with a nod, and he let Kisumi lead the way.

As they left campus and began their small trek, Asahi’s eyes began to wander to the road, lingering on every black car that went by. Four… Five… Six…

“Asahi? Asahi!”

A hand gripped his arm and yanked him back, and Asahi blinked slowly, coming back to the present. His eyes widened as he realized that he had been just about to walk out into the crosswalk where multiple cars were crossing. He slowly looked at Kisumi, swallowing thickly as he tried to find the words to explain himself.

Kisumi let go of him, his frown etched deep on his face. “What’s wrong? You’re frowning a lot, and you aren’t hearing me. Are you okay?”

Considering that they had been friends since elementary school, Asahi should have expected that Kisumi would easily notice that something was off about Asahi. Still, Asahi still wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, so he just shook his head silently in response.

Kisumi grabbed ahold of his wrist, pulling him along, and the skin on skin contact kept Asahi’s attention from slipping to the cars around him. By the time that Kisumi pulled him to a table and sat him down, the boy’s purple eyes were filled to the brim with concern.

“Asahi, is everything okay? You’re not acting like yourself,” he noted, leaning across the table as if to get a better look at him.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I just feel really… out of it,” he admitted, his voice low. He felt bad for worrying his friends over something that he wasn’t even sure about.

Kisumi’s frown only deepened. “Out of it?” he echoed curiously.

“Like… I keep getting distracted really easily…” he began, chewing on his lip as he thought. “I started playing a game on my way to and from university to occupy myself, but today I’m finding it distracting me to the point where I almost walked into that busy crosswalk…”

“What’s the game?”

Asahi lifted his gaze to stare at Kisumi. “What?” he asked.

“What’s the game?” Kisumi repeated. “Obviously you’re distracted by it, so whatever the game is has something to do with what’s wrong.”

He huffed, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “It’s just a stupid counting game. You count all the cars you see of a specific color,” he mumbled, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

Kisumi hummed thoughtfully, placing his head in his hand as he mulled over his thoughts. “And you’ve just been playing it with yourself?” he questioned. When Asahi nodded, he continued. “Maybe you just need to take a break and focus on something else. Or maybe you just need to play the game with someone else and get out of your own head.”

Asahi’s eyes widened in surprise. “Kisumi… That’s a great idea!” he cheered, his face lighting up only to fall seconds later. “But who would waste time playing a stupid game like that with me?”

A snort sounded from across the table, and Kisumi shook his head with a laugh. “Me, idiot. I’m your friend, and I’m worried about you, so I’ll play a counting game if it means that you’ll feel better,” he said, glancing out the window. “I’ll pick white cars.”

He was so surprised by Kisumi’s gesture that it took him a moment to look out the window as well, watching as cars drove by on the busy Tokyo street. “I-I’ll go with red,” he muttered, stealing a glance at Kisumi.

Kisumi stared out the window the whole time that they waited for their food, never once breaking away to look at something else and signal that he was bored. Asahi had never seen Kisumi take something so seriously in his life. By the time their food came, Asahi felt as if a curtain had been lifted over his eyes, allowing him to properly focus for the first time that day.

He smiled at Kisumi over the food, blessing the meal and digging in, missing the gentle gaze that Kisumi shot his way. He ate quickly, happy to be feeling mentally better, and it was all thanks to Kisumi. He was truly lucky to have him looking out for him.

**Author's Note:**

> twitter || twitter.com/tsvnashii  
> curiouscat (if you want to leave a prompt) || curiouscat.me/amajikx


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